1 December 2013 Edition

Breaking the Berlin Wall Breaking the Border

European United Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) European Parliamentary Group – Conference on planning for Irish reunification

• Cypriot MEP Takis Hadjigeourgiou and Martina Anderson MEP

» Mark Moloney

‘We tore down the Berlin Wall brick by brick but that is only one barrier. You also need to break down mental walls’

ECONOMISTS, MEPs, academics and representatives from across
the European Union came together at the EU Parliament in Brussels on 12
November to discuss Irish reunification and lessons from the experiences of
mainland Europe, particularly the breaking down of the Berlin Wall and the
reunification of Germany.

‘Reuniting Ireland: Lessons from Europe’ – hosted by the
European United Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) European Parliamentary Group
– heard contributions on planning for Irish unity, with a particular focus on
ensuring such a transition went smoothly in economic terms.

Opening the event, GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer, an MEP for
Die Linke of Germany and who herself grew up in the previously divided nation
of Germany, said:

“The project of EU integration is all about bringing people
together and breaking down borders.”

She gave her own opinion on the partition of Ireland:

“Driving from Derry to Dublin, I have seen that there is
still a lot of work to be done to remove the Border in Ireland. There is an
urgent need for cross-border infrastructure – something that the EU should
prioritise in its structural funding.”

But she also warned:

“We have seen how the Irish ‘Celtic Tiger’ did not benefit
everybody. How can we ensure that those who managed the ‘Celtic Tiger’ for
their own economic benefit do not try to abuse a process of Irish unification
for their own financial benefit – against the interests of the majority of the
people?”

Professor Christa Luft, who served as Economics Minister in
East Germany in 1989 and 1990, gave her experience of dealing with
reunification. Outlining the importance of having a grounded and fully-costed
economic plan, Professsor Luft said that, due to the belief that German
reunification was decades off as the Berlin Wall actually fell:

“Long-term policies and resilient economic calculations,
potential savings and synergies of the cost of reunification did not exist.”

This short-sightedness resulted in serious economic
problems. This was compounded by the fact that, instead of a union, the area of
the former East Germany was simply forced to accede to basic law of West
Germany. Despite this, she says, hardly anybody anywhere in Germany would like
to see the nation redivided even though there are still economic deficits which
need to be addressed.

“We tore down the Berlin Wall brick by brick but that is
only one barrier. You also need to break down mental walls,” she said in
relation to attitudes between East and West.

Cypriot MEP Takis Hadjigeourgiou spoke of his own interest
in Irish history, saying, as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the people of
Ireland has the right to pursue the reunifiction of their country.

“We Cypriots have a very stong feeling of kinship with
Ireland. Not only that we faced the same imperial power of England, but we are
too an island nation. Today, with millions of families that struggle to makes
ends meet in Europe, people continue to experience war – an economic war. We
need to expand people’s right to change their fate and this will only happen if
the democratic forces of the Left in Europe can take power.”

• 1990: MONAGHAN/BERLIN

His fellow Cypriot MEP, Vera Polycarpou, said the British
used the same divide and rule tactics in Cyprus to retain large strategic
military bases on their island. She outlined the problems faced in Cyprus due
to the illegal occupation of the north by Turkey and she expressed solidarity
with Ireland.

“We are united in struggle against the artifical divisions
of our countries,” she said. Echoing experiences in Ireland, Vera said talks
between political leaders and rapprochement between both Greek-Cypriot and
Turkish-Cypriot communities is key. Progress in one aids the other, the MEP
said.

She added that EU support and funding for cross-community
and youth events is a very important part of that progress, as is EU financial
support for renovations in the city of Nicosia – Europe’s last divided capital
– in preparation for reunification.

Conor Murphy MP
called on the Irish Government to produce a Green Paper on Irish unity
with the authority and resources to examine in-depth what processes and
challenges there are and what measures can be brought about to assist in
reunification.

He also spoke about the need for a Border poll on Irish
unity within the lifetime of the next Assembly in the North of Ireland, and
said setting a date for such a poll would allow for a proper discussion on what
a united Ireland would look like — and it is his belief that the argument for
unification would be very persuasive.

Ruth Taillon of Ireland’s Centre for Cross-Border Studies
outlined the work which needs to be done to deal with the legacy of partition
in Border communites:

“Many of the problems that affect the Border region can’t be
tackled without cross-Border co-operation. The Border communities have been
increasingly isolated because of the conflict and suffered economic decline
because of the disruption of the economy and the breaking up of towns and their
natural hinterlands.”

• Dr Gerard McCann, Senior Lecturer in European Studies and Geography at Queen's University Belfast, and Conor Murphy MP

She said the Centre for Cross-Border Studies wants to see a
targeted approach to aid the Border region, highlighting how such a region
cannot compete at attracting foreign direct investment and therefore indigenous
businesses must be supported.

Dr Gerard McCann, Senior Lecturer in European Studies and
Geography at Queen’s University Belfast, described EU support for peace
building, cross-commmunity and voluntary organisations as incredibly important.

“The involvement of the EU in the Peace Process, North-South
integration, and the development of business and the voluntary sector has been
unprecedented. It goes across the communities and across the island. And it
really has underpinned the process at this point.”

He added, though:

“There should be more focus on North/South projects rather
than Catholic/Protestant projects. The drive towards religiosity in terms of
funding has not been helpful.”

Economist Michael Burke described how the growth of the
economy of the South of Ireland since independence and the massive increase in
living standards, long eclipsing that of the North, was down to the ability of
the South to decide its own fate in economic matters while the North relied on
exports to Britain.

“Unionists were told ‘If you stay with the British Empire
you’ll be better off.’ But from the facts we can see that they were sold a big
fat lie,” he said.

“They’re worse off, the whole community of the North is, and
that’s a pattern you see in relation to colonial possessions right across the
globe.

“Speaking from a purely economic perspective, I would say
that if people want to change their living standards for the better, the best
way of doing that would be to get rid of the Border and reunify the country.”

• Economist Michael Burke and Ruth Taillon of the Centre for Cross-Border Studies

“Yes, reunification is an enormous step forward, but to
really benefit from it what’s really required is that the new political and
economic system that arises from the dissolution of both states either side of
the Irish Border is one where investment has to be directed. Relying on big
firms, as happened in Germany, simply doesn’t work.”

Wrapping up the conference, Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson
said it is extremely important that Cyprus and Ireland learn from the German
experience. She said the way that West Germany subsumed the East was something
which should be avoided here, and instead a merger should be based on an equal
basis decided by all the people of Ireland.

Martina said the Irish Government has abjectly failed to
promote or seek international support for reunification yet, despite this,
interest and support across the EU is growing.

Busting the myth that reunification would be bad
economically for Ireland, Martina spoke of the waste of money due to the
duplication of separate health, education, agriculture, tourism, infrastrucutre,
tax, currency and legal systems on the island:

“Those who continue to oppose reunification premise their
argument on the basis that a new and united Ireland is not economically
sustainable and is completely reliant financially on British state subvention,”
she said. “This argument relies on what can only be described as ‘guesstimates’
from the British Government. We do not know the amount of revenue accrued from
taxes, including Corporation Tax and VAT, from businesses located in the Six
Counties who pay their taxes through their headquarters in England.”

She also noted that tax currently raised in the North of
Ireland flows across the Irish Sea to the British Exchequer used in funding
Britain’s illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, maintaining the British royal
family and their many state buildings, along with funding museums and other
public buildings in England. In a reunited Ireland, this tax money would
obviously be retained and used for the benefit of the people of the island.

Pointing to Scotland – which will hold a referendum on
independence next year – she noted how previous claims from the British
Establishment that an independent Scotland could not survive economically were
debunked by the Scottish Government who proved that their economy actually
produces a surplus.

She said it would be “very foolish” to take British Treasury
figures for the North at face value.

“We believe – politically, economically and socially – that
it makes sense for us as an island to operate as a single unit. That said, we
also know we have a long way to go.”